My Friend Robert

Today we went to see our friend Robert.  For the past few months I've been taking pictures of my favorite people and he's one of them.  He's nice, friendly and funny.

Nothing much else to report.  It was a fairly quiet weekend.

Austenland and The Wizard of Oz - An IMAX 3-D Experience

Hi All.

Nothing really exciting this weekend to report.  We went shopping, out to dinner and then I "dragged" Paul to see a couple of chick-flicks.  (Don't tell anyone, but he likes this type of movie more than a real man should.)  Yesterday (Saturday) we saw the movie Austenland.  It's about an English resort that immerses it's guests in Regency England, complete with a Jane Austen-like suitor.  It was fun but not at all what I expected.  Sometimes I think it would be neat to live in Regency England but really I'd rather go to Austenland for a few weeks, if only it existed.

 
I do admit that I liked Mr. Nobly (the Fitzwilliam Darcy character).  Here is the actor, JJ Feild, with Keri Russell (who played Jane). 

While we were at the theatre we discovered that The Wizard of Oz had been released in a new 3-D IMAX format ("An IMAX 3-D Experience").  We decided to do that today (Sunday).  I'm really a Wizard of Oz geek.  Most of my favorite movies are sci-fi, but this is one of the few girlie movies that I really love.  It was really cool to see the movie on the big screen and in 3-D.  I remember watching it every year in the spring when it played on TV.  It was always such a big deal when it came on.  I think I was probably about five when I saw it the first time and I never missed a year.

Judy Garland had a beautiful voice.  I always wished I could sing like her.

If I have to decide I think the Scarecrow is my favorite character.  I can't really say why - I just love him.

The Lion is my second favorite.  He's so funny. 

The Tin Man is my third.  I think he's sweet.

We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz...

 

 

Irish Festival in Indianapolis, Indiana

A hundred thousand welcomes to ya!  I was going to start this post with "top o' the morning to ya" but apparently that phrase was created in Hollywood, that is if the internet can be believed.  Anyway, hello.  Today we went to the Irish Festival in Indianapolis.  If you saw my post from yesterday (when we went to the Scottish Festival) then you'll know we've had a wee bit of Celtic culture this weekend. 

Today Paul wore his Irish soccer jersey.  Once again no one commented.  He was still disappointed, but after yesterday, he wasn't too surprised.

This was a larger festival than the Scottish Festival, but in some ways it was very similar.  For instance, we saw bagpipe players again.  Funny...I really think of Scotland when I think of bagpipes.

And once again we did some shopping.  Bought some gifts for the family.

They had several stages where bands were playing traditional Irish and Celtic music.  Paul got into the spirit by having a Guinness while we listened.  The weather was great and we had a great time.

The Scottish Festival in Columbus, Indiana

Aye, right!  Today we went to the Scottish Festival in Columbus, Indiana.  A wee festival that celebrated all things Scottish...from jewelry and Celtic crosses to books and Scottish food.  Yes, even haggis!

Paul wore a Scottish rugby jersey that we bought in the UK, but with all the kilts no one really noticed.  He was disappointed.

We did some shopping and watched the bagpipers.

 
We also saw some highland cattle.

And we had a little fun pretending to be Scottish.

We wanted to try a dish called rumbledethumps but they dinnae have any left.  It's a traditional dish from the Scottish borders. The main ingredients are potato, cabbage and onion.  The one at the festival also had cheese.  We saw someone eating it, and it smelled yummy.

A festival like this makes me want to go back to the UK.  We haven't explored Scotland nearly enough.

Paul's Post - Watches

Paul's Post

 



I was reading my most recent issue of Esquire magazine (An absolutely great magazine! You should really have a look at it sometime.) and I was looking at the ads for watches.  These were ads for some really nice (and expensive) watches, but I was struck by how boring they were.  They seemed to be either very basic and plain or overly functional with several dials and timers and dates.  These are a couple of examples of watches that are like this that I found online:

Tag Heuer - Basic and plain

 

Breitling - Overly functional

 

I have several watches that are not nearly as expensive as these, but I think they are much more interesting and stylish than these two.  These are four of my watches:

Stauer - A skeleton watch - I have gotten comments on this watch for years. 

 

Kenneth Cole - It's a bit hard to see in the picture, but the face has a paua shell type surface.

 



Fossil - I guess that you can argue that this watch is overly functional (I tend to agree),

but the color is very unusual and eye catching.

 

 

This is not to say that I don't see expensive watches that I like, but they seem rather few and far between.  While I was looking around today, I did see some watches that caught my eye.  If I had the money, these are the ones that I would buy:

 

Rolex - I just love the color and the matching leather band.  This design also comes in several other colors - blue, cherry, cognac, and chocolate.

 

Also a Rolex - The two tone face adds interest to an otherwise simple design.

 



So if someone out there wants to get me a really, really nice birthday gift, I can give you some hints. 





Another Pair of Shoes!

OMG!  I was looking online for the Dolce & Gabbana floral cage sandals (check out my last blog on 9/2) and I found these!

They're SO cute!  They're Dolce & Gabbana too.  Don't know what they're called but I love them.  They appear to be available online at YOOX but they don't come in my size.  Darn!  I still love them anyway.

Boots and Shoes

While traveling back home from visiting my sister in Daytona Beach, we had a six hour layover in the Atlanta airport (and a delay on top of that).  We bought a day pass for the Delta Airline first class lounge.  Wow, was it nice.  Free drinks, free snacks, cushy chairs, a bird's eye view of planes taking off.  It made the wait time a bit more tolerable.

Before we went to the lounge, I bought the latest issues of Marie Claire and In Style magazines to read (yeah, really more like to gaze longingly at the shoes).  They did not disappoint.  I saw a pair of Tom Ford boots I just love!





They were listed at $3,775 online at Neiman Marcus.  Just a bit (oh, okay, a lot) above my price range.  But I just adore them.

Then I saw a pair of shoes from Dolce & Gabbana.  They're called Floral Cage Sandals.  OMG!  I love them!  I would definitely wear them if I only had them.

They were listed at $2,783 online at Luisaviaroma.  There were also a few variations of these shoes.

I like the first ones shown the best.  But how to get the hubby to buy them for me?  When I asked he said we could but we would have to cut back elsewhere.  Was he serious?!  I'll have to find out.